Theodora Van Gaal

Theodora
Van Gaal

Professor
cvollbrecht@muih.ndm.edu

Department

SOIH Nutrition and Herbal Medicine

Education 

  • PhD in Theology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2021. 
  • Master’s in theology, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherland, 1994. 

Certification 

  • Pastoral Care in Changing Cultures: intercultural communication, gender-specific communication, and power relationships, 1998. 
  • Certificate in Professional Pastoral Ministry (MDiv.) from the Catholic Theological University of Utrecht, Netherlands, 1994. 

Biography 

I was born and raised in the Netherlands. I earned my Master’s degree in theology from the Radboud University (then: Catholic University) of Nijmegen in 1994. Until 2006, I served the Catholic Community in the Netherlands as lay-pastor, chaplain, and working for diocesan offices. As a lay pastor I worked in parishes that had welcomed migrants from the Caribbean and Vietnam. In 2006, my husband, me and our three children migrated to the United States. Here, I continued serving the Catholic Community as a director of faith formation, as a religion teacher at Calvert Hall College Highschool, and as an affiliate professor both at Loyola University and here at NDMU. In 2013, I started a research project among African migrants to the United States which resulted in earning my PhD in theology from the Radboud University of Nijmegen in 2021. Since august 2025, I serve as assistant professor in the Religious Studies department for systematic theology. 

Research Interest 

  • World Christianity 
  • Theologies & Spiritualities of Africa and the African Diaspora 
  • Intercultural Expressions of Faith & Theology 
  • Missiology 
  • Migration Theology 
  • Spirituality of John of the Cross 
  • ​​​​​​​World Religions 

Publications 

  • Migrant Spirituality: Correlating the Narratives of African Migrants to the USA and the Dark Night of John of the Cross. Zürich, Switzerland: LIT Verlag, 2021. 

  • “Migration and the Mystical-Theological Tradition: Migration Experiences and the Experience of a Dark Night” in Mystical Traditions: Approached to Peaceful Coexistence, editors Muhammad Shafiq and Thomas Donlin-Smith. Palgrave MacMillan: Cham, Switzerland, 2023. 

  • “Stories of Transformation: African Immigrants to the United States and the Dark Night of John of the Cross” in The Handbook of African Catholicism, editor Stan Chu Ilo. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 2022.  

  • “Stories of Transformation: African Immigrants to the US and the Dark Night of John of the Cross” in The Church and Migration: Global (In)difference, ​editors Darren Dias, Michael Attridge, Jaroslav Skira, and Gerard Mannion. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2021. 

  • “A Forgotten Mission in African Catholicism? Migration Experiences from the African Diaspora in the United States” in Faith in Action, Volume 1: Reform, Mission, and Pastoral Renewal in African Catholicism since Vatican II, editors Stan Chu Ilo, Nora K. Nonterah, Idara Otu, MSP. Eugene, Oregon: PICKWICK PUBLICATIONS / Pauline Publications Nigeria, 2020. 

 

Presentations 

  • “A Call to Social Transformation: A Reflection on Spiritual Storytelling among African Migrants to the USA” at Catholic Theological Society of America Convention, Baltimore, MD, June 13-16, 2024. 

  • “Migration Experiences as a Locus Theologicus: Qualitative Research in Migration Theology” at Catholic Theological Society of America Convention, Milwaukee, WI, June 8-11, 2023. 

  • “Migration and the Mystical-theological tradition” at “Mystical Traditions: Approaches to Peaceful Coexistence” – 2020 Sacred Texts and Human Contexts Conference, Rome, Italy, June 7-10, 2020 (Online: May 24-25, 2021 – Postponed amid COVID). 

  • “A Forgotten Mission in African Catholicism? Migration Experiences from the African Catholic Diaspora in the USA” at “What Must We Do to Perform the Works of God? (John 6:8)” – Pan-African Congress on Theology, Society, and Pastoral Life, Enugu, Nigeria, December 5-8, 2019. 

  • “Stories of Transformation: African Immigrants to the US and the Dark Night of John of the Cross” at “The Church and Migration: Global (In)Difference?” – Twelfth International Gathering of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network, Toronto, June 25-27, 2018. 

 

Professional Affiliations and Memberships 

  • Catholic Theological Society of America 
  • American Academy of Religion 
  • ​​​​​​​African Association for the Study of Religion 
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